The memos in question were originally drafted to outline the
guidelines governing the use of GPS and other location-tracking
devices. While the American Civil liberties Union had previously
filed a Freedom of Information Act request regarding the
documents, the Justice Department ultimately redacted 111 pages.

Since the bulk of the memos were blacked out, the ACLU filed
another suit attempting to force the Justice Department into
releasing more information. This course of action was ultimately
unsuccessful, as the civil liberties group noted on Wednesday.

According to the ACLU, the decision is significant in that it
comes after the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that GPS monitoring
and location tracking by the government must not violate the
Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects Americans of
unreasonable search and seizure. However, the court did not state
exactly when the government would be required to obtain a warrant
to install GPS devices, nor did it outline how other location
tracking procedures should be treated.

In this most recent case, the Justice Department argued the memos
should stay secret because the rules governing location tracking
are home to sensitive law enforcement information. The court
disagreed with this view, saying “law enforcement’s use of GPS
tracking is well known by the public.” At the same time, it ruled
that no more information needed to be released since the
department’s methods “will be borne out in the courts.”

There’s still a chance the memos will be made public, as Senator
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) have penned a
letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to release the
redacted information. The congressmen wanted to know when exactly
the department believes it can use GPS to track an individual’s
whereabouts, and whether it believes it needs to obtain a warrant
to do so.

“In our view there is no room in American democracy for
secret interpretation of public law,” the two lawmakers
wrote.

When the redacted memos were first made public, ACLU attorney
Catherine Crump called the Justice Department's actions
"unfortunate," saying it "leaves Americans with no
clear understanding of when we will be subjected to
tracking—possibly for months at a time—or whether the government
will first get a warrant."

GPS tracking of cars has also come under scrutiny as the
Department of Transportation moves forward with plans to introduce
vehicle-to-vehicle communications standards. This would allow
cars to transmit their speed, direction, and location to other
vehicles in order to avoid collisions, but privacy advocates have
voiced concern over the possibility that such capability could be
abused.